


Fire On the Waves

by Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Humor, Post-Canon, Roy and Riza get a cute moment together, Roy trying to catch a break, Royai Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains/pseuds/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains
Summary: “Is this seat taken?”  Riza asked with a small, lighthearted smile, motioning toward the space on the bench beside him.He scooted over a little further.  “Saved it just for you.”~~~~~Roy Mustang has a secret.  He's afraid of swimming.  It's not that he can't do it . . . but he goes out of his way to ensure he never has to.  Which is why he's less than thrilled when he gets dragged on the Elric clan's weekend trip.  To a lake.  To swim.  Lovely, just lovely.For Day 5 (Picture Prompt) of Royai Week 2020.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell, Mei Chan | May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Rebecca Catalina/Jean Havoc, Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	Fire On the Waves

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Day 5 of Royai Week. I wanted to make sure I did at least one of the prompts, and by the time I got around to writing anything, it was the last day. So, I did my best to roll with it, and all in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Roy Mustang and water didn’t mix.This was, and had been for as long as he could remember, a simple fact of life for him.Even before Flame Alchemy became an art (or a weapon, depending on how one chose to look at it), with which he was irrevocably linked, making him essentially the antithesis of water, he hadn’t particularly liked it.Even before rainy days brought the threat of a sort of impotency with them, he’d never seen why some people enjoyed them so much.Frankly, he could do without getting wet.Whether it robbed him of powers or not, it was unpleasant.He couldn’t fathom why some people would choose to go out, merely because it was raining.Because they liked the rain.It was as if they enjoyed feeling soggy _._ It was a preference he knew he would never be able to appreciate it.He knew the value of the rain, albeit in a secondhand sort of way.He knew the importance of water, for crops, for society, for really all life in general.And that was as far as his appreciation for water went.Recognizing it as a vital, unavoidable fact of life.Good for practical things.And that was the extent of its purposes in his life.

This of course meant, that he personally felt swimming—for leisure, mind you, not as a possibly life-saving skill that could help one avoid drowning— was ludicrous.No, perhaps that was an understatement.It was not only ludicrous, it was an affront to reason.It wasn’t a question of whether or not he could swim (it was a skill he had in fact picked up, in the academy no less — he blamed Hughes for that particular fact), but rather a question of why he (or anyone in their right minds, for that matter) would want to swim.That being said, he kept his loathing of this activity to himself.Partially because he wished to avoid any remarks made about it at his expense.It wasn’t difficult to imagine the type of material someone like Havoc could come up with if he knew that Mustang had, in essence, a phobia of swimming.Let alone if the tabloids got a hold of it . . . it wouldn’t really do for the leader of the country to look like someone who was afraid of water.It would be a humiliating debacle, as far as Roy was concerned.Which meant that it was of substantial importance to keep this particular dislike under wraps.

It was no surprise then, that when Roy had received a call from one ex-diplomat, erstwhile subordinate officer, source of constant stress, and sort-of-son (not in any official capacity, of course, and also a perspective he kept absolutely to himself) Edward Elric, Roy’s day had gone from alright (if tedious) to ruined.Receiving the call itself hadn’t ruined said day, of course.What said call was about had ruined it.The topic of the call was an invitation on Ed’s part, for Roy and Riza to join the Elric families (as well as the Havocs) on a vacation.Well, a weekend trip really.It had seemed innocuous enough at first.Up until Ed had revealed the destination of the trip.The precise moment when Roy’s day took a turn for the worse was when he heard the word ‘lake’ crackle across the line.Going back hadn’t been an option after that.Roy had made up his mind almost instantaneously.The only problem was that there hadn’t been an easy route to declining the invitation.As it turned out, Winry had already gotten in touch with Riza.Several weeks prior to Ed’s call, in fact.Because of course she had.It was hard to concoct an excuse involving scheduling conflicts when Roy’s schedule for the weekend in question had been absolutely cleared.It was even more difficult to conceive an excuse involving security risk, when Ed recited back to him the exact precautions that Riza had mentioned would be taken.He could practically hear the words in her voice.After that, Roy came to the realization that he had been played.Well, not played per se.That would imply that he had been duped.He had merely been outmaneuvered.The call was nothing more than a formality.He was going to be dragged on the trip one way or another.And there was nothing he could do about it, short of coming out and telling none other than Edward Elric that he absolutely hated swimming.Actually, hated water in general.And that wasn’t an option.Because if Roy knew Havoc would have a good time using that terrific tidbit every chance he got, then he also knew it was a simple truth that Ed would have a field day with that information.And so, that was that.The short version of how Roy had ended up at the lake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roy cast a watchful glance back over his shoulder, trying to ensure that he wasn’t being followed.So far, it appeared as though his disappearance had gone unnoticed. _Excellent.I might just get away with this yet._ After all, it wasn’t completely unreasonable to believe that his surreptitious exit had gone undetected.Well, mostly undetected, that was.He knew that Hawkeye had seen him slip away from the others during their hasty migration out to the beach.He was alright with that.He didn’t think she’d try to drag him back, citing concerns for his safety (or at least, he hoped not).Unlike his all-too enthusiastic bodyguards, who were determined to ‘ensure his continued physical wellbeing,’ even if it came at the expense of his privacy and sanity.There were times when he didn’t miss being a simple Colonel one bit. _Sure, people were trying to kill me back then too, but at least I didn’t have to deal with overzealous security._ Once he became a general, it seemed that the military had a much more vested interested he ensuring he stayed alive, which had honestly been a bit of a one-eighty from their previous sentiments toward him, he realized wryly. _And don’t even get me started on how things were after I took over from Grumman.Apparently there’s a clause in the contract somewhere that expressly forbids privacy.Wish I’d read the fine print.If I had, I might of even let Armstrong take a crack at it instead.Maybe.Probably not.Because it seems like I’ve got a bullseye tattooed on my back.Might be a bit responsible for that ink though, I suppose.The whole, ‘dismantling the stratocracy’ thing rubbed some people the wrong way.Who would’ve thought?_

He chuckled softly to himself as he trudged down the beach.It wasn’t all the bad of an atmosphere, he decided, as long as he was able to keep a fair distance between himself and the water itself.To his pleasant surprise, that was looking like an increasingly real possibility.For a time, he had been quite concerned that he the jig was about to be up.He had managed to find excuses for most of the weekend, but it had looked as though his luck was about to run out.

Faking an upset stomach from the ride out for most of the first morning had worked far better than he anticipated.It had helped that Hawkeye had backed him up (she had agreed to be complicit in what he had dubbed the ‘water avoidance strategy,’ or WAS for short, after he had very reluctantly come clean about the full extent of his aquatic aversion to her and her alone, though regretfully, she hadn’t agreed to helping him worm his way out of the trip altogether, which had been his end goal in the reveal).That had allowed him to stay behind at the cabin during the group’s ill-fated fishing trip, which had apparently ended in Raoul Elric somehow managing to knock his father overboard, and later on, capsized the entire boat (fortunately, in water shallow enough that it didn’t pose a serious risk to anyone).Roy wasn’t sure how one twelve-year old boy managed to cause so much chaos— on second thought, he was.Said twelve-year old was Edward Elric’s son, which made it all make almost perfect sense.In fact, it would have been far more strange if Raoul hadn’t been trouble incarnate.

That event had managed to stave off any more aquatic activities for the remainder of the day.When the group arrived back at the cabins, considerably more soaked than they had been when they set off, it was clear that swimming wasn’t on the agenda for the evening after all, given that they had already done their fair share of unscheduled swimming.It had been a significant struggle for Roy not to burst straight out laughing at the sight of a sopping wet El being practically hauled back to the cabin by Winry, looking like he needed to be hung over a clothesline in the sun to dry off.He had managed to keep it together somehow, though, if only because he had a nagging suspicion that if he did dissolve into hilarity, Ed (and perhaps Winry too, because she was fairly waterlogged herself, and probably more than willing to help, just this once) might try to chuck him into the lake out of pure spite, and he really didn’t want to ruin the moment.

The cookout later that evening had actually been quite nice, even if it was on the beach.Roy could always appreciate a good fire, especially when he helped make it.Seeing the Elric children look a little bit awestruck by their ‘Uncle Roy’s’ (his official title in Ed and Winry’s house, apparently) abilities was also a satisfying moment (even if he wasn’t about to admit it).And of course, the fact that it didn’t involve water (even if it was on the beach), was a definite positive.So far, so good.

He had suspected that today wouldn’t be quite as easy.Thankfully, there had been multiple options.Al and Mei had decided they would rather wait for the evening to go swimming, and wanted to go on a little hiking expedition around the lake.Roy and Riza had ended up joining them for this, while the rest of the company went ahead with their day in the lake.Riza had even managed to cow the guards into not coming along, stating in no uncertain terms that it would be best for the quartet if they didn’t come along, alongside the logic that all four of them were more than capable of handling themselves if any issues did arrive.Though they were resistant to the idea, Riza Hawkeye wasn’t the sort of person to take ‘no’ for an answer to something like that, and so, their group had been able to enjoy a considerably more peaceful hike, sans the tense presence of security (who were paranoid enough that they would have probably ended up trying to snipe out a squirrel or execute a tree for trying to ‘assault’ Roy).The hike had been satisfying.The weather hadn’t been nearly as warm as Roy thought it might be, given that it was earlier summer.The trail was easy enough, and the tree canopy above provided welcome shade.Al and Mei had kept things entertaining with a running commentary that spanned just about everything (and nothing, for that matter).Roy and Riza had learned all of the latest gossip involving the Elrics, most of which centered around the antics orchestrated by Raoul (an unsurprising fact).Roy had been forced to admit, as much as he had been apprehensive about the trip, it hadn’t been nearly as miserable as he expected.It was good to escape from everything, even if it was only a brief respite.

However, when they had returned from their hike as the afternoon was drawing to a close, Roy’s worries had made a strong comeback.Swimming was still the plan for the evening after dinner, and this time, it seemed inevitable that he would be dragged into it, lacking any real plausible excuse.He couldn’t argue that he was worn out from the hike (even if that was technically true).He wasn’t about to give Ed the opportunity to point out his age (something which he had done just about every time they had talked since Roy’s birthday, as if it was Ed’s personal duty to remind Roy that he was fifty), which he knew the former Fullmetal Alchemist would be positively thrilled to do.And so, the Roy’s impending doom approached unimpeded.Roy had just about given up hope for escaping, coming to terms with the cruel, cruel fate which lay in store for him, when salvation arrived from an unexpected source.Raoul had burst into his family’s cabin (where the group had been gathered for dinner, and wereconversing after the meal), and started yelling about how Ephiny (his younger sister, who from what Al had said, alternated between being the target of Raoul’s pranks, and his willing accomplice in them) had a crab stuck to her face that was trying to rip off her nose (or something along those lines).Roy had been rather dubious.He didn’t personally think there were actually any crabs at the lake.But hey, he hadn’t been about to look a gift horse (or should he say crab?) in the mouth.The panic that erupted as Ed and Winry dashed forth to rescue their daughter from the crustacean’s clutches, followed by the rest of the party (who were either as concerned as Ephiny’s parents, or simply along for the ride), had been the perfect cover for him to make good his ‘tactical withdraw’ (read: flight from the prospect of swimming).He wasn’t particularly interested in finding out whether the crab was a very real threat to Ephiny’s unfortunate nose, or merely some elaborate hoax that Raoul had worked up, with his sister aiding and abetting in the ruse (he was personally very much leaning toward the latter, and he really didn’t think Ed and Winry had too terribly much to worry about, aside from the laugh everyone was probably going to have at their expense after the trick was unmasked).What he had been interested in, was taking the opportunity to high-tail it down the beach.He figured he could play it off as a walk after dinner (that sounded like something someone of his age could pull off with dignity, right?).The trick would be getting back late enough from the ‘walk’ that he avoided swimming, but not so late that his guards panicked and called for backup (something which he was sure they’d leap to doing with great gusto, however much restraint Hawkeye might advise).

Shooting another glance back in the direction of the cabins, it still appeared as though he was as of yet un-missed.The bend of the shorelineblocked the a direct view of the beach where the rest of the party could very well still be congregating.Roy imagined that the nature of Ephiny’s crustacean encounter had probably been revealed and resolved by now, whatever it might be.He decided he had put enough space between himself and the rest of the group that he could slow his pace to a casual walk, and did so. _It’s not like they’re going to come tearing down the beach the minute they don’t see me with them.Hopefully.Though my guards might . . . well, finger’s crossed that Raoul’s stunt (assuming it was a stunt) was very distracting.At least they can’t see me from here.So even if they do go into a frenzy, they won’t know where to look._ He grinned at the mental image of his bodyguards panicking.When he was out of their reach, it was quite an amusing thought.

Roy wandered on a little further down the beach, letting the evening grow older.His steps were calm now, unhurried.Every so often, he would turn halfway and check to make sure his no one was trying to run him down.Fortunately, he appeared as if he had this stretch of the beach all to himself.

Though his pace was relaxed, there was still still a purpose in his steps.He had caught side of a rather curious feature further down the shoreline: what appeared to be a bench facing out over the water.It was a strange site, all things considered, something rather out of place in what would have otherwise been a wholly natural environment.An unexpected reminder of humanity’s existence, in a space where they might have otherwise been easier to forget.Roy wanted to investigate it.

As he neared his quarry, Roy saw that it was indeed unmistakably a bench.It looked as though it had been set firmly into the ground, its legs buried into the dirt.Tilting his head, he decided to test it out.It felt fairly stable as he took a seat, shifting against the backing slightly to see if it would give at all.It held steady.Roy wondered if alchemy had played a role in its creation, or if there was perhaps a concrete base somewhere below his feet.He supposed it had been built by the same business that maintained the cabins.That would make sense.It appeared to be mostly made of wood, though it looked in quite good condition for that.All in all, a puzzling little installation.

He shrugged, electing to enjoy the view it offered of the lake, rather than wonder over its composition.The lake looked pristine, and unbroken, more like a sheet of dark glass than a body of water in the fading light.At the same time, the setting sun shot rays forth over the still surface, setting parts of it alight with orange and crimson sparks. _You know, like this, it doesn’t look so bad, even if it is water.It’s almost as if someone set fire to points of it here and there, and then left it to burn.It’s almost beautiful.Almost._

A cough from behind him drew his attention.He swiveled about to find its source.“Is this seat taken?”Riza asked with a small, lighthearted smile, motioning toward the space on the bench beside him.

He scooted over a little further.“Saved it just for you.”

She slid in beside him.“I doubt that, but you have my thanks anyway.”

He chuckled at this.“You know me so well.”

“Hmm, I suppose you’re right.”

“You found me pretty quick,” he remarked.

“I followed you from within the tree line.”

“Guess my escape wasn’t so sly, huh?”

“It wasn’t bad,” she admitted.“But I was expecting it.”

“You know me so well,” he reiterated.

“Indeed. As well as the first time you said that.”Her eyes twinkled, the embers of the diminishing day bringing to life the laughter within them.He grinned at her wit, and swung his arm up behind her, wrapping it around her shoulder.Their heads each leaned in a bit, until they were side by side.He laid a gentle kiss against her cheek.Her eyebrow crooked.“Feeling romantic?”

He turned out toward the lake.“I blame the lake.You know . . . with the sun on it like that.Like fire on the waves.”

“Oh, how poetic.If there were any waves to speak of, I might even agree.”Her tone was amused, playful.

“Well, I suppose we can’t have it all,” he responded, matching her humor.

“No, I suppose not.”

“You know, for a moment there, I have to say, the lake almost looked . . . pretty.”

She genuinely laughed at this.“Who are you, and what have you done with my Roy?”

He raised his palms apologetically.“Maybe I’m losing my edge with time.”

“Mmm.Maybe so.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as they gazed out over the water, his arm holding her close, her head coming to rest upon his shoulder. _I guess the evening turned out alright after all.It’s getting dark enough now that there’s no way they can rope me into swimming._

It was at this moment that Al’s voice cried out from further down the shoreline, “Hey, Mustang, that you?!We’ve been looking everywhere!”His head swiveled, to see the man in question racing down the beach toward them, Mei keeping pace alongside of him.The sigh that escaped Riza’s lips was barely audible, but he heard it nonetheless.He was tempted to mirror it himself. _I may have spoken too soon.At least it’s not Fullmetal . . . it’s still too dark though, right?Right?_


End file.
